With Richard Ratcliffe this morning whose family have been separated for over 3 years. As Richard continues his campaign for Nazanin’s release at the Iranian embassy,my message to Iran: DO THE RIGHT THING, SHOW THE WORLD YOUR HUMANITY & LET THIS INNOCENT WOMAN HOME #freenazaninpic.twitter.com/bitSctNmn9

Mr Ratcliffe said he had received a phone call from his wife to tell him she had informed the Iranian judiciary that she had begun a hunger strike – although she would still drink water – to protest against her “unfair imprisonment”.

He added that his wife sounded “nervous but calm”.

“Her demand from the strike, she said, is for unconditional release.

“She has long been eligible for it. I do not know the response from the Iranian authorities,” he said.

He said his wife had made the decision following the fifth birthday of their daughter, Gabriella.

Gabriella has not been allowed to leave Iran following her mother’s arrest and is living with her maternal grandparents.

“Nazanin had vowed that if we passed Gabriella’s fifth birthday with her still inside, then she would do something – to mark to both governments – that enough is enough,” Mr Ratcliffe said.

“This really has gone on too long.”

Image copyrightFree NazaninImage caption Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe saw her daughter, Gabriella, during a temporary release from prison in August last year

Friends and family gathered outside the Iranian embassy in London on Saturday, singing Happy Birthday via a video call to Gabriella, who celebrated her birthday on 11 June, and sharing a unicorn-shaped birthday cake.

As he began his own hunger strike, Mr Ratcliffe said: “I said that if she did it again I would stand in solidarity with her.

“A hunger strike in prison, nobody gets to see it – a hunger strike here is much more public. I will keep her story public.”

Amnesty International UK’s director Kate Allen said her plight was “truly heart-breaking”.

“Nazanin is a prisoner of conscience, unfairly jailed after a sham trial and subjected to all manner of torments – including months in solitary confinement and endless game-playing over whether she would receive vital medical care,” she said.

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